Landscaping works wonders

Is it the exposed stone that’s bothering you? Do you want to paint it? White wash it? Match it to another material? For the posts by the front porch I’d probably paint it black. 🤦‍♀️ sorry!!
You can keep it wood looking if the rest remains simpler. Your house is magnificent. I think you are possibly overthinking it and I may be too lol. Once you have landscaping and furniture out it’ll be a lot different.

Might be the odd bit of facade stone on the garage? How does it look at night with interior lights on, do the windows look less like archer slots in the castle wall? And yes, landscaping will make a big difference.

A couple more pictures would help.

I'll make one fairly easy to do suggestion. The arched wood could be taller and it should wrap around on both sides. This should look like a beam that's large enough to carry the weight above and not like decoration.

What seems off to you? It's too late to make any substantial changes.

Unfortunately, what looks "off" to me is the stone facade that doesn't wrap around the corner. I think the juxtaposition of the painted brick and stone is what is jarring. Adding landscaping will help visually soften that hard line.

I agree with PPF about the arched beam. It needs to wrap around the corners as well.

The beam will help.

The empty looking black holes are the result of the unfortunate black window trend. If they're fiberglass you could paint the frames.

Can you repace the stone with painted brick?

Perhaps a paint color with less green in it unless its the photo that has a green tint.

Having the beam wrap the corners and possibly, painting the "dental", under the board and batten, black would help.

I tried upsizing the columns and bases, and raised the opening.

Not much better but there’s stone on the other end as well

I agree they would look better larger but I’m not sure how that would work now without significant cost.

Would painting the arch white and staining/painting the posts dark help possibly?

The problem stems from the fact the truss company messed up the front porch gable / height to begin with. It was supposed to be an open gable.

Adding the small arch was my idea to make the sides and front of the porch meet. Otherwise they had that piece in the front higher than the sides which really looked off to me.

cedar gables on the smaller gables would look nice

The stone looks off to me. It also looks like it was just slapped on to the front of the house because it wasn’t carried around the side. I’d paint the stone the same color as the brick and I like the beefier columns and bases that PPF suggested.

Oh gosh dont paint the stone lol.

I kinda like it. Yes, a bit off...but green stuff will help. Dont cheap out - hire an actual landscape design professional.

I think you should live in it for a year before you make any decisions on the house. In the meantime, do the landscaping.

Stone should look like it’s part of the house and not just pasted on like this does. The stone is wrong and throwing the look of the house off

So what should she do at this point , CP? Rip off the stone and put it in the garbage?

Driving up the driveway ones eyes will go straight to the area where the stone stops at the corner. It looks cheap. If it were painted the same color as the rest of the house maybe it wouldn’t stand out as much. I am not one in favor of painting stone or brick but in this case it would look better. That whole stone section of the house doesn’t work with the rest of the house.

Use a climbing vine or a narrow tree-let on the corner where the stone meets the white.

I like the stone because I like the contrast and the color. It just needs blending better, and you can do that with landscaping.

I would change the color on the uprights for the portico, but that's ALL. (IMO I'd make them less orange)

*******

From my experience.... When I first saw my house, I was very taken aback because it didn't look like what I expected. It also didn't look like anyone else's house. I wondered if I had been just way off with my decision-making.

GULP!

A year later, there could be no mistaking that it is my house and it matches my personality. I painted the front door a different color. That was it!

The grounds are a work in progress.

Houzzers let me know clearly I should wait a year before even making decisions on landscape. I resisted and resisted, but they were so right!

I found it to be important even to know simple things like how the driplines work off the roofs. What happens after a heavy rain or snowmelt? I had never thought about this before. Now I had time to observe. I did some re-grading and, now in the second spring, I'm observing once again.

The year has given me time to be relaxed as I go about getting what I need on the inside of the house. I had to adjust to that, too, to go along with my house's uniquenesses. What kind of furnishings does this house call for?

*******

So, give yourself a break. For this year, get some splashy hanging baskets and cascading tubs of petunias on that stone/garage corner and cogitate. You have those nice woods. Start thinking about making them homey for wildlife, like birds. Read up on attracting butterflies. These things are about placing your house in its universe. They need time and attention, research and imagination. Some philosophical introspection is part of this. They are not decisions you make quickly.

Stone or brick veneer should always terminate at an inside corner or it looks like what it is: lick-and-stick. If you add stone at the garage doors, consider an authentic look over them--not a bunch of lick-and-stick pieces.

You can warm up the facade with landscaping. In our office we call it "shrubbing it up." Consider adding shutters. And definitely fix the beam at the entry as a number of posters have suggested.

Unfortunately your house has been constructed, but not designed; it is void of architecture. Finishes have be applied to a form and the integrity of the materials are lost. There is no honesty in structure. A beam is decoration without visual function, structural elements are washed over with wall finish, wall finished amend at the turn of a corner, and fenestration are lifeless voids. Use the landscaping as the allure with house as the backdrop.

The grading of he site forces the entrance walk to pass the garage and approach the front door portico from the side so the design of the portico is critical.

IMO the rustic craftsman nature of the portico is not appropriate for the minimal traditional/vernacular style of the house and gives the impression it forgot to put its pants on.

I would wrap the posts with smooth painted wood, the bigger the better and wrap the stone around the corner.

I agree with the advice to do your landscaping and then live with it a year. Nothing is ever perfect in design and there are far worse things that could've gone wrong. I have regrets on our new house but they bother me less now than they did 4 months ago.

If the landscaping doesn't ease the harshness of that corner, you could remove the brick where the garage doors and have it stoned to the inside corner. That would be a much less harsh transition than the outside corner.

I think the posts are throwing it all off. I'd paint them black to match the rest of the trim. And as others said landscaping will make a huge difference!

Along with RES2, may I share a cautionary tale?

We built our home 16 years ago. It is a tall, narrow board and batten "barn" house, meant to be painted white. It has ganged, red, second story windows that encompass most of the most visible elevation and wrap the outside corner, a window "belly band" kind of.

Anyway, modern farmhouse was not really a look and I panicked and decided to paint it red, like a literal barn. This made the red windows that were designed to cut the tall facade disappear. I knew right away I had goofed.

So, I understand that uneasy feeling of not loving your house facade everytime you drive up and trying to avoid the big change (repainting white over red -aaargh) with small ineffective ones (windowboxes).

I don't know if any of the suggested changes in the thread struck you. But no matter what you do with the portico, wrapping the stone to an inside corner is one necessary change. Spend the money now or hate the facade for 16 years and spend it then, as I'm doing.

@Krista B I think it would be helpful if you’d say what you don’t like. What will be great to you depends on your likes and dislikes. A different person might focus on something that you don't care about.

Little thought I agree that emphasizing the entry area is the thing, and adding to the bases seems typical.

I'd ask landscaper about a use of stone's color in pathway, whether or not it shows at the curb view.

This type prominently ?

https://www.wayfair.com/home-improvement/pdp/msi-meshed-flagstone-in-golden-white-mvp2457.html

Continuous path or stepping stones:

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Prism-Arcadian-Concrete-Patio-Stone-Common-16-in-x-21-in-Actual-15-2-in-x-20-7-in/3722178?cm_mmc=shp--c--prd--lwn--bing--lia--236--patiohardscape--3722178-_-0&placeholder=null&gclid=c78170301b741e2479fc1054c68cab66&gclsrc=3p.ds&ds_rl=1286981&msclkid=c78170301b741e2479fc1054c68cab66

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0799DTWST/ref=sspa_dk_detail_5?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B0799DTWST&pd_rd_w=VSPlw&pf_rd_p=4269e1a0-a218-4fbd-9748-1cd337d2f2a5&pd_rd_wg=t17Km&pf_rd_r=4XJ7CWM1K32AFRPXYFCB&pd_rd_r=a2b0b47c-2bc8-4431-8e8a-6d2b1bfbf976&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExM1JOQzhXWVJVQk9MJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMDYwNDI1M05TVjJMVEM1WkVSQiZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwNjQyMTQ0Mzc0MjVHVVFUMUJJTyZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2RldGFpbCZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

stain or paint it to match the siding.

I agree the stone should be added around the garage if at all possible and around the front corner. At the least I would paint your porch posts the same color as the brick as I think it would balance the brick a bit! So exciting and a beautiful location!